Latest bonsai tree work

[krichardson]

After spending some time today at the bonsai show and being able to pick the brain of a couple guys that have been in the hobby for 30+ yrs I decided to take some of what I got from them today and redo this one that I just did last week. removed some lower branches and bent down other branches in their place. Added a lot of movement to all the branches now with a lot of wiring. And thinned out as well a reduced the foliage. Should back bud now and I think become a really nice tree with in a year or two I hope.

Looks like it is well on it's way.
Question,what would be the best way to proceed if I pick up one of those boxwoods from HD? Should I repot and work on it right away or should I leave it as is for a while?

 

[Steve_C]

What I usually do when I pick up a nursery stock like a boxwood or juniper or some sort of conifer to make into a bonsai is I try to do the first pruning/styling first and then leave it in the pot it came in for the first year. Then the 2nd year I do the root pruning and move it into a bit smaller pot. If you do a repot and pruning at the same time it can be a bit hard on the true and sometimes they won't recover that well.

Depends on the size you buy as well. If it's a small boxwood like a little 1" diameter one that comes in the half gallon pots I would plant it in the ground and ground grow it for a few years to speed up the grow rate to get a bigger trunk quicker than way. If its one of the bit larger 2" or bigger dia boxwoods that come in the 2.5 to 5g size pots then I'd go ahead and start styling and pruning that right away. They will back bad pretty good at that size most times. You should be okay to do some work right now still since it should still have time to harden off before the first freezing temps get here. If you wait another month to start on one then I'd buy it then wait till late spring next year to work on it because any new growth that starts from pruning in September wouldn't have time to harden before cold temps and it would kill it.

 

[krichardson]

What I usually do when I pick up a nursery stock like a boxwood or juniper or some sort of conifer to make into a bonsai is I try to do the first pruning/styling first and then leave it in the pot it came in for the first year. Then the 2nd year I do the root pruning and move it into a bit smaller pot. If you do a repot and pruning at the same time it can be a bit hard on the true and sometimes they won't recover that well.

Depends on the size you buy as well. If it's a small boxwood like a little 1" diameter one that comes in the half gallon pots I would plant it in the ground and ground grow it for a few years to speed up the grow rate to get a bigger trunk quicker than way. If its one of the bit larger 2" or bigger dia boxwoods that come in the 2.5 to 5g size pots then I'd go ahead and start styling and pruning that right away. They will back bad pretty good at that size most times. You should be okay to do some work right now still since it should still have time to harden off before the first freezing temps get here. If you wait another month to start on one then I'd buy it then wait till late spring next year to work on it because any new growth that starts from pruning in September wouldn't have time to harden before cold temps and it would kill it.

Thank you.I would be looking at the half gallon sized container plants.

 

[Steve_C]

Little before and after of the latest tree on the bench today. This is a Yew that I found growing in the middle of some weeds behind my shed a few years ago. I pulled it out and stuck it in the ground for a couple years in a spot where it would get more sun and grew some trunk size a bit quicker. Potted it awhile back and just did it's first styling work today. Took a LOT of bending and wiring to get the main branch down where I wanted it. Will let this one heal up and backbud till sometime next summer when I will work on it again.

Before

After

 

[krichardson]

Beautiful work,nice cascade style.

 

[Steve_C]

Weather is NICE here today (no sun but down in the low 70's finally) so went and spent some time in the bonsai garden for a bit this afternoon. This is one of my bougainvillea that I have had for a few years. More or less just a project tree to play around with. When I first got it I had no idea what to do with it because I got it about my 2nd year of bonsai and I made a huge mistake and tried to make a cascade out of it. Big failure there. All I accomplished with that was having a tree that looked like it had fallen over and was growing upward wildly.

So this year I repotted it and started messing around with seeing if I could do a halfway convincing windswept (my first attempt at windswept). Finally redid the trunk angle today into a position I like better than before and did some clipping & wiring.

May remove that first branch on the leading side of it perhaps at some point. Still not 100% happy with it but at least now I think it went from my most hated tree to one I don't hate quite so much as I did.

 

[krichardson]

I like the way that the roots are exposed.

 

[shookONES]

Amazing trees! I bet that bougie is a real looked with it's spring flowers. I hope I luck out with some nursery stock to mess around with before this year is up.

 

[Steve_C]

Yeah I'm dying for them to mark stuff down soon, I'm hitting Lowe's tomorrow to see if they have started marking down there yet or not. Not sure if you or krichardson have tried this species for bonsai before but next time you're at the nursery check out the Azalea's they mark down at the end of season as well. Azaleas actually make a really nice bonsai tree. Only thing to keep in mind with Azaleas though is you want to wait to prune then till late spring once they are bloomed out but before the buds have set for the next season, so about late May/early June is pruning time for them. But you can buy them now and root prune/repot it now no problem.

This is my azalea I've had for a few years now (pic was back this spring). It's put on about 30% more size now in just the past couple months so I'll need to prune it next spring after it blooms out.

 

[shookONES]

I actually have an Azalea that I butchered. I ended up hacking it to nothing and stuck it on the side of my house with hopes of it turning into something in a few years. Beautiful tree